1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate to an electric bicycle having no chain to connect pedals and wheels, and a control method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electric bicycles include a motor to rotate wheels and a battery to supply electric power to the motor. Such an electric bicycle travels in accordance with rotation of the wheels by the motor. Charging of the battery is carried out when a generator connected to the pedals is operated in accordance with rotation of pedals.
In a traditional bicycle, traveling thereof is basically achieved by pedaling. A chain is employed to transmit pedaling force from the user to wheels.
However, such a chain has a complex structure, and occupies a large area in the bicycle. Furthermore, the chain may be separated from the wheels. In addition, the skirt of a user may be caught by the chain or may be contaminated by the chain.
In order to solve such problems, an electric bicycle having no chain has recently been developed.
In such a chain-free electric bicycle, the motor thereof rotates when a button disposed on a handle is depressed, thereby causing the bicycle to move forward.
In the chain-free electric bicycle, pedal load is applied to the user when the user pedals and, as such, the user feels pedaling sensation when pedaling, as in the case in which there is a chain.
In conventional cases, application of the pedal load is carried out irrespective of the rotation direction of the pedals. For this reason, it is possible to rotate the pedals in a normal direction only when the user strongly pedals, whereas it is possible to rotate the pedals in a reverse direction only when the user strongly lifts the pedals by the tops of the feet. Here, the “normal direction” means a rotation direction of the pedals to move the bicycle forward, whereas the “reverse direction” means an opposite direction to the normal direction.
However, since pedal load is applied irrespective of the rotation direction of the pedals in such a conventional case, the pedal load is applied even when the pedals are reversely rotated. For this reason, for example, when the user pedals to reversely rotate the pedals such that each pedal moves to a start position, great force is required to reversely rotate the pedals. This may cause user inconvenience.